“How many did we lose?” Avery addressed the room.

After returning from the battle, the dead were given proper funerals and the injured were taken care of. The part that came next was assessing the damage. A brief meeting was had to plan for the next attack.

“In total? Not many. Our initial estimates are less than two thousand...Keepress.” Samantha, being in charge of logistics, was the first to respond.

“We had nearly twenty-thousand troops, that’s ten percent of them gone. How can you say that isn’t many?” Eloise voiced her doubts. The Lycanthropes didn’t suffer heavy losses and even injuries weren’t a problem for them due to their regenerative abilities but soldiers did die and she couldn’t ignore it.

“We have forty-thousand at the next line of defense and the fortifications are far more dependable. If you take them to account we managed to keep a large portion of our attack power even though they were outnumbered,” Samantha replied coolly.

“I agree with her. The biggest reason for our loss was the Dwarves. We don’t know what other creations they have waiting for us and the strange ballistae cost us a lot.”

“Are there any ideas to counter it?” Avery asked.

The room went silent for a few moments and then Gareth, the leader of the Vampire faction, spoke.

“I would like to propose a night raid. Even if we only take twenty or so machines, we’ll manage to prevent a few hundred more losses, Keepress.”

Everyone could only nod at Gareth’s proposal but Avery needed more details before she could agree to a plan.

“And who would be apart of your night raid?” She asked.

All races within the Underground City had excellent vision in the dark so they were technically all viable candidates but some would be noticed faster than others.

“If the Lycanthropes were to work in tandem with my kind we could pose as humans and infiltrate the camp, Keepress.”

“Then you should make the necessary preparations now, Ira will send you there tonight so be ready.” Avery sent him away.

Gareth bowed and left the room quickly, he knew the importance of his mission so he was incredibly serious.

“Is there anything else to we need to address, Keepress?” Sylun inquired.

“The Valkyries will be present for the next altercation. There is no way that the Angels will be passive in the next few battles.”

At Avery’s statement, Ira found himself chuckling.

“Order the soldiers to be aware at all times, we won’t be able to constantly defend the soldiers against the sheer amount of Angels that will be appearing.”

Avery’s words were taken to heart by everyone listening.

“It’s too bad we can’t fight them at night,” Ira sighed. He knew just how powerful the Red Moon was for the Dark Elves so it would be useful to have. But there was no way the Angels would lead an attack a night and their defenses would be way too high to stage a full-scale assault.

“...Why can’t we?” Avery asked as her eyes widened with realization. “You have control of the Red Moon. If you summon it during the day they wouldn’t expect it.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Ira furrowed his brows in thought. “That’s perfect!”

“You’ll be able to do it?” Avery wanted to make sure that it was within Ira’s range of abilities.

“Yeah, easily.”

“Then you should wait until we fight a decisive battle. It would be a waste if we used it so soon.”

As they moved on to other areas that needed to be covered, an important matter was brought up.

“The Will Of- No, Wilma, will be participating in the next battle.” As Ira finished speaking, the pale white-eyed entity which took the form of a woman was brought into the room.

“Greetings.” Wilma bowed rigidly with a smile on her face that caused discomfort to observers.

“She’s physically weak but she’ll be useful so you need to ensure she's protected as much as possible.”

A brief summary was given of everyone’s role and the room was dismissed. Although the first battle ended in the defeat of the Dark Elf Empire it wasn’t reflected in their mood. Sylun even had expectations of a draw in the next battle.

…

Clark sat on the outskirts of the large camp with a troubled expression. Ira’s attack wasn’t what filled his mind but something stranger. There were people, civilians with non-combat related duties, who had gone missing during the march. Desertion wasn’t a possibility so Clark was genuinely stumped. He wouldn’t have been concerned with it, but he got along with the people who didn’t fight, he found they had a lot in common. So when some of his friends suddenly vanished he could only become curious.

“Hey, Clark, what’re you doing?” Randolph arrived with an escort of guards and priests following closely behind him.

“Oh, Randolph!” Clark seemed to brighten up as Randolph was the perfect person to raise the issue with.

“I know you’re busy but have you noticed that some people have gone missing? I was wondering if you could ask Lord Harith about it. Were they sent back to the Capital or something?”

Randolph eyes flickered with guilt that Clark misread as concern or worry.

“I- With Ira’s attack, I’m not sure that Lord Harith is able to focus on a small issue. I’m sure they were just assigned to other camps. You know that supplying an army this large is difficult.”

“Yeah…” Clark answered with a doubtful sigh. “I just wonder why they didn’t say anything before they left.”

“There must be a good reason for it.” Randolph laughed dryly. “Plus it’s quite dangerous here for them anyway.”

“You’re right.” Clark nodded.

“Well, I have to go but I’ll see if I can find out for you, Clark.” Randolph smiled weakly. His stomach turned and his face grew pale but no one noticed the change in his condition.

“Thanks, Randolph.” Clark remained dubious of the truth right up until the end of their conversation.

…

Night descended on the military camp and guards were stationed everywhere. Faceless angels patrolled all areas of the camp searching for the slightest sign of a disturbance but the night proceeded without issue. Within the shadows of the camp, a small group of people moved together. They seemed to be human but something about them wasn’t quite right if one looked very close. Small bloodstains could be found on their uniforms but they hid them well, passing through the camp without suspicion.

“Here.” One of the men leading the group said. Several people at his side slipped into a tent while the two others stood guard.

“How many does that make, bloodsucker?” A Lycanthrope chuckled as if they already finished their task much to the chagrin of the Vampire at the lead.

“Don’t relax just yet.” He reminded his Lycanthrope companion.

“Yeah, yeah.” The Lycanthrope almost felt like yawning with how boring their mission was proceeding.

“Hey.” The voice of a new arrival made them raise their guard.

“Yeah?” The Lycanthrope answered in a casual manner. The Vampire next to him was already reaching for a hidden knife in a slow manner while evaluating the person in front of them. He was a young man with short dark hair and sand colored skin, no doubt a native of Parv. He wore white-robes and had a curved sword at his waist.

‘Is he a member of a Parvian house?’ The Vampire thought.

“Are you Grenitians?” The young man asked, seemingly unaware of their infiltration.

“Yeah, what about it?” The Lycanthrope responded aggressively. It seemed very in line with the behavior each country usually showed to each other. They weren’t really hostile but not everyone from each nation would get along easily.

“Oh, I was just wondering. The Grenitians don’t usually come this close to our camp so it’s surprising to see some here.”

“Is that so?” The Lycanthrope asked.

“It is.”

The three of them remained silent and the knife found its way into the hands of the Vampire who was waiting to use it at any time.

“Well, I just thought I would say something, have a good night.” The Parvian seemed as if he didn’t have any suspicions toward them so the Lycanthrope smiled.

“Yeah, good–” Just as the Lycanthrope began to speak, the Parvian rushed forward and drew his sword. Beheading the Lycanthrope on the spot.

“What!” The Vampire was surprised as he couldn’t react to the Parvian’s speed. The curved sword found his throat next, removing all life from his body.

“Come out, your friends are dead!” The Parvian swung his sword and cut down the tent, exposing the several Lycanthropes and Vampires inside who were sabotaging one of the Dwarven machines.

“Huh?!” They were clearly taken by surprise and the Parvian took the initiative to take their lives with a few effortless swings of his sword.

The altercation brought guards running and they stumbled on the scene with bewilderment.

“Sir Cyprian, what is the meaning of this?! A distinguished swordsman such as yourself attacked innocent men, I hope you have a good explanation.”

“They aren’t human.” Cyprian pointed his sword at the corpse. “Check their teeth.”

One of the guards approached and pried open the mouths of one of the corpses only to jump back in horror.

“A Vampire?!”

“Inform someone of what happened and increase your defenses, Grenitian.” Cyprian put his sword away and returned to his camp.

It was extremely unlucky that the group sent by the Dark Elves managed to run into one of the strongest swordsmen on the continent. Still, the plan couldn’t be called a total failure as multiple Dwarven machines were ruined. But since they were discovered earlier than expected, they were unable to accomplish as much as expected.